Code Dean
by FoolsRushIn
Summary: Jeff calls Annie for help after he finds out who his new next door neighbor is. Post 4x01


_I had the beginning written almost as soon as the episode finished and then I kept writing and it turned into...well, this! I really liked the season premier and I do have a lot of hope for the season as a whole. I'm excited to see how everything's going to turn out, even if I am a little wary of the new guys still. Anyway, hope you like this and let me know what you think!_

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As soon as Jeff closes the door to his condo, before he even puts his groceries away (that's how pressing this is), he sends a quick text to Annie.

**To: Annie  
Code Dean! I REPEAT CODE DEAN!**

He tucks his phone away in his back pocket and turns to lock his door. Although, he somehow feels there's a chance that Dean Pelton ("call me Craig outside of school, Jeffery!" he hears the dean's voice say in his head and shutters) already has a key to his apartment. He groans thinking about all the bad things that will happen with Dean Pelton living next door.

Oh God, he's going to want to carpool to Greendale.

Would it be entirely insane for Jeff to move?

Eh, probably not entirely unwarranted in this situation.

Once his groceries are safely put away, he stands there and waits. He had texted Annie approximately 10 minutes ago, so she should be here any second. He taps his fingers impatiently glancing between his phone and the clock. He figures she hasn't texted back because she's too busy driving over here and hopefully breaking every speeding law.

He already tango-ed with the dean today, and it had unfortunately been for nothing, but he really isn't sure what the dean is up to. And Jeff definitely doesn't feel safe with him next door. He glances at the clock again. 15 minutes.

He immediately dials her number and bites on his fingernails nervously. He doesn't normally need Annie to fight his battles for him, but he really can't handle a remake of 'Kiss from a Rose', okay? Jeff breathes out a sigh of relief when Annie picks up. Before she can even get a word out, he's talking.

"Annie! Where the hell are you?"

"Jeff?" She says slowly.

"Yes, it's me. Now, where are you?"

"At my apartment…" Annie responds in the same confused tone.

"Didn't you get my text?!" He asks, his tone nearing hysteria. Dean Pelton could get here any second. ANY SECOND.

"Uh, yeah. But you didn't say anything about coming over?"

"Annie, I said code dean!"

"Am I supposed to know what that means? Is this like another 'streets ahead' thing?" She replies and he can picture the confused look on her face and how cute she looks when she's confused…no, Winger! Focus!

"It obviously means that the dean has moved next door to me and you need to get over here as fast as you possibly can." He quickly informs her. "And streets ahead was Pierce! And I am not Pierce."

"Wait, so you want me to come to your apartment because the dean moved in next to you?"

"YES!" Jeff practically shouts.

"Am I missing something?" Jeff breathes in and out and tries to ignore the stress headache he feels coming on. He's had more stress headaches from Annie than he ever had in his entire life before he met her.

"Can you please just come over?"

"I-" She hesitates and Jeff mentally goes over who to call next if Annie says no. "I'll be right there." He almost high fives himself, but stops halfway there because he's still Jeff Winger, even if he is scared of the 40 something dean at his community college. Jeff is pretty sure he's earned that right.

He practically bounces on his toes waiting for Annie to get there. He has the apartment dead silent, attempting to hear anything that might be going on next door. Not in a creepy way, but if the Dean is planning something he wants to know right away.

There's a momentary flash of panic as he realizes this could very well be his life from now. No. Annie is going to figure something out. She has to. She's the smart one.

He jumps at the knock on his door and walks over hesitantly.

"Jeff, it's me! Let me in." He yanks the door open, grabbing Annie by the arm, quickly scanning the hallway, and pulling her inside. "Ow, Jeff!" She squeals and he realizes he pulled a little harder than intended. He winces and gently rubs his hand over her arm as he lets go.

"Sorry," he mutters. She shakes her head.

"It's fine." Annie shrugs folding her arms. "Now, can you please tell me what is so emergent that you had to interrupt my night?"

"The dean. Moved in. NEXT DOOR!" He answers, his voice getting louder with each word.

"You've said that several times now."

"Annie, that man has an obsession with me." She rolls her eyes.

"Jeff, he just has a little crush on you. That's all. I don't know what you're freaking out about."

"He lives right there." Jeff exclaims. "We share a wall!"

"All he wants is to hang out with you. He moved into an entirely new apartment just to have a chance to spend more time with you." Annie points out and he feels his guilt creeping in. How the hell did she always manage to do that?

"Stop!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop making me feel like a bad person!"

"I'm not doing anything but stating facts, Jeff." She looks up at him from under her lashes and he groans.

"You can't make me feel bad for him, Annie. This is a man who has inappropriately hit on me for the last 3 and a half years. He has hacked my email. He has stalked me at the mall. He found out where I lived so he could move in next door to me, Annie!"

"I never said you should feel bad."

"Good, because I don't."

"Okay," she nods smiling at him and taking a seat on his couch.

"I tangoed with him today." He mumbles throwing himself down next to her. "I willingly danced with him. He's going to think I'm interested in him."

"He knows you were just doing it for the balls." Jeff winces slouching down further.

"Not a great way to word that sentence, Annie."

"You knew what I meant."

"Whatever, Leonard stole all the balls and made it irrelevant anyway."

"Oh no! You might have to spend an extra semester with us. The worst has happened." Annie mutters sarcastically and Jeff blanches at the outright anger in her tone.

"Well, they added an extra class onto first semester because they lose funding if they don't have a real history class or something like that," he hastily tacks on trying to ignore the guilt bubbling in his chest.

"Oh," and the guilt gets stronger because this time she doesn't sound angry, just sad.

"Annie, you know we're not going to stop being friends if I graduate." He says gently nudging her. "Who else is going to be my Dean buffer?" She laughs harshly and Jeff tries to physically shrink himself at the sound.

"You don't have to placate me, Jeff. Contrary to what you all think, I'm not a child."

"I don't think you're a child."

"Your condescending head pats and 'kiddos' say otherwise."

"Wha-? Annie, I haven't done any of those things in at least a year." He murmurs softly glancing over at her. "Is something else going on here?"

"No."

"Annie…"

"I just-" She breaks off placing her head in her hands. "Everyone knows what they're doing after graduation. You're going back to being a lawyer, Britta's studying psychology, Abed's practically the next Steven Speilberg already, Shirley and Pierce have the sandwich shop, and Troy will invent Dance Pants. And once again, little Annie has no idea what she's doing."

"Dance pants?" He questions and then shakes his head getting back to the matter at hand. "And what do you mean? You're Annie. You've had your entire life planned out since you were 3," he smirks elbowing her.

"But what if I changed, Jeff?" She asks looking up at him. "I'm not the same Annie I was when I started here."

"I know that." He says gently.

"I don't want to be a hospital administrator anymore." The absolute lost look in her eyes breaks his heart a little because he's never seen Annie like this.

"What do you want?"

"I don't know!" She practically wails and Jeff hesitantly places an arm around her. He wants to comfort her, but…innocent embraces with them always had the hint of something more. In the past they've always had someone to interrupt them. Here, in the privacy of Jeff's condo, well, this is definitely dangerous.

"You'll figure it out."

"How do you know?" She asks sinking into his embrace.

"Because you're Annie Edison and you always figure it out." Annie smiles slightly, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Hey, you're only 22. It's okay to not know what you want to do with your life." Annie's face immediately crumbles and he doesn't know what to do next. "Annie, you got to help me out. I really don't know what to do with crying women." He says desperately trying to break the tension. Thankfully, it works.

"Ugh, I'm sorry." She says quickly wiping her eyes. "It's been a really long day and I was trying to figure out what to do when you called and I'm sorry I was snappy. Although, you kind of deserved it." She mutters the last part under her breath and Jeff gives a small smile at that.

"I'm not going to graduate early." Her head whips up to look at him. "I can't leave you guys. Let's face it, you'd fall apart without me." Annie snorts and brushes away the last of her tears.

"I think you're overestimating your value." He laughs shaking his head. They're silent for a minute staring at each other.

"You gonna be okay?" She nods.

"I'm Annie Edison, I'll figure it out." She manages, but he hears the doubt in her voice.

"You will." He assures her. "And I'll help you as much as a lawyer who faked his bachelor's degree possibly can." He says self-deprecatingly and her eyes soften slightly.

"Don't sell yourself short. You're a good guy, Jeff, and you're a good friend. And you spent all of your energy today trying to win some stupid competition just so we could all take our last class together." She smiles and grasps his hand in hers. "I like New Jeff." He grins back at her and leans forward. Their faces are so close now that if either of them shift a fraction of an inch, they'll be kissing. He should pull away because Annie's confused right now and he doesn't need to make things any harder for her.

But dammit it's been two and a half years since he kissed and he almost forgets what it's like. He really wants another point of reference for kissing Annie. So, he leans forward capturing her lips in a kiss and it's even better than he remembers.

Her lips are soft and pliant against his and his hand tightens on her waist, as their kiss deepens. Her hand is at the back of his neck gently pulling on the ends of his hair.

He slips his tongue in and she hums in satisfaction and Jeff knows he would do just about anything to get her to make that sound again. He's about to do something that he's pretty sure will get her to make that noise again when someone knocks at his door. To his dismay, Annie pulls away.

"There's someone at your door."

"They'll go away." He murmurs against her lips pulling her back in. She acquiesces sighing into his mouth. Another knock at the door sounds.

"Jeffery! I know you're in there." Jeff groans and it has nothing to do with the petite brunette that has found her way into his lap.

"I told you it was a bad thing he moved in." He says reluctantly extracting himself from her and heading for the door. Annie sits on the couch staring at him with wide eyes. "I'll handle it." He assures her.

"Dean Pelton," Jeff greets with a fake smile swinging the door open.

"Hi Jeffery," Craig leans against the doorframe, a flirty grin lighting his face.

"Can I do something for you? We were kind of in the middle of something." He smirks moving over, so the Dean could see Annie on the couch. Annie squeaks, her eyes widening as she shares a look with Jeff.

He knows she's worried about all the possible implication this could have, but it's not hard for Jeff to blackmail the Dean. All he has to do is offer him a shirtless picture or something and he'll keep quiet.

"Oh, hello Miss Edison." Craig says paling. "I didn't realize Jeff had company."

"Uh, yeah, he just needed some help with a couple of things." Annie says, voice even and Jeff smiles impressed. A couple years ago, Annie would have been confessing or laughing in a high-pitched voice, but Annie was calm, cool, and collected.

"Well, if you ever need help in the future, you know where I am." He winks, but it lacks his usual luster, before turning away dejectedly. Jeff slams the door shut and reclaims his spot on the couch and kissing Annie again. She pushes him away after a couple seconds. "What?"

"He looked so sad." She pouts at him.

"No, I'm not inviting him back in here." She continues to pout, this time invoking the doe eyes. "Annie," he whines.

"Invite him over for dinner?" She requests. "I promise it'll be worth your while," she smiles slipping a hand under his shirt, letting her fingers trail over the bare skin of his stomach.

"You're killing me." Jeff groans closing his eyes tightly.

"It'll be a quick dinner."

"You can never be sure with the Dean."

"I promise," she whispers into his ear moving her fingers out from under his shirt.

"Fine," he growls. "But he better be gone in an hour." Annie nods and Jeff shakes his head. "You are the only person in the entire world who could get me to willingly have dinner with the Dean." He mutters giving her the side-eye.

"Save your confessions of love for later, Jeff." She beams kissing him quickly on the lips. "Now go! The sooner you get him over here, the sooner we get rid of him." He jumps off the couch and heads toward the door. He looks back before he exits completely.

"One hour?"

"One hour," she affirms.

In that moment, Jeff almost wants to thank Dean Pelton for moving in next door.


End file.
